This is Your Blog on Theater
So last week began with the introduction of the musicans for Crazy Enough into the rehearsal hall. We had asked to add them a little earlier than usual, since so much of the interplay between Storm, the music and the text had to be worked out between the plays.
I had met the uber-cool Jim Brunberg at a fundraiser last Spring for John Branam’s City Council run. Besides being a killer guitar player, bass player and vocalist, Jim is also the mastermind behind Mississippi Studios, the city’s most important recording studio and live music venue. About halfway through our final night in the rehearsal hall, Jim learned that his twins were being born at the hospital, so he ran as fast as he could.
Scott Weddle is our drummer. He started out as a songwriter and guitar player, and learned to play the drums because he wanted more rhythm on his recordings. Scott is also singing back up vocals.
We brought a sound system into the room so that Courtney (in the dark blue sweater) could begin getting a sense of how to mix the sound for the show, and so Storm wouldn’t blow her voice out trying to sing over the band. This also gave James (in the blue stripes) an opportunity to refine how the band entered underneath the dialogue. It is tricky, as Jim confessed they were playing at about 1/10th the volume they might actually use in a rock concert, but its necessary underneath the quieter parts of the dialogue.
Storm had been battling a wicked cough, and I sent her to the doctor. She found out that she had walking pneumonia and started a round of antibiotics. We only lost one real day of rehearsal, but it took her awhile to get back to full vocal strength.
Some audience members at our invited dress asked if the wall behind Storm was actually part of the Armory that we had revealed for this show. In actuality it was all constructed (from styrofoam) in our scene shop. They lay out the sheets of styrofoam on a table saw to shave out the grooves, then our scene painter goes back in with acetone and ‘dissolves’ different bricks to different levels, so that it creates the worn look that you see here. It looks pretty darn cool.
Even yesterday Storm continued to tinker with the text, trying to find the exact language to use for the play’s conclusion.
More Posts about Crazy Enough || Get the Details about the Show || Buy Tickets
Finally moved onstage yesterday for The Importance of Being Earnest. After the complexities of mounting Apollo and How to Disappear, the crew seemed delighted to be ahead of schedule with the set and costumes.
Sharonlee McLean is having a ball as Miss Prism, and I think her costume just made her that much happier. Life as a blonde!
The transformations from act to act happen pretty seamlessly, but offer very dramatically different tones. It looks like a big sorbet in the middle of a 9 course meal. Sweet.
Nikki Coble (Cecily) had no trouble at all balancing her new hat on her head. In some ways, I think it’s actually easier to act this play in clothes of the period than in contemporary clothes – because all of a sudden it feels like this language SHOULD be coming out of your mouth.
more posts about Being Earnest || Get the Details about the Show || Buy Tickets
{photo: Kate MacLuggage tries on Gwendolen’s Act II dress for The Importance of Being Earnest
After closing Apollo and dispensing with all 3500 boxes yesterday, it feels as though we’ve slipped into an alternate universe as preparations for Earnest swing into full gear. We’re in the middle of week three of rehearsals, almost ready to start running the whole shebang, and looking forward to moving onstage next week.
The cast is a hoot and a half to work with. James Knight, who plays Algy, hails from Michigan, has an MFA from the University of Kansas City, Missouri – and lives in New York with his fiance, Michelle (who was just cast in a show at ACT in San Francisco).
Sharon Lee McLean (who you may have recently seen at Co Ho Production’s The Receptionist, or in our The Thugs, Act A Lady, Christmas Carol, or The Seagull) plays the forgetful, Miss Prism.
Matthew Waterson plays Jack. He was born in LA (where his Dad was a TV Producer) but spent his formative years in London. I think he played rugby in college or something like that. His undergrad degree was in Mathematics and Political Science. When he told his folks he wanted to be an actor, they replied, “You know that all of our friends who are actors, represent the 1% of the industry who actually work, don’t you?”
This is a snapshot of the Act Two model. I asked Bill Bloodgood, our wonderful designer, to try and contain the space as much as possible – so our focus stays on the clarity of Wilde’s delicious language.
In addition to building all the women’s gowns for the show, the costume shop also designs fitted period underwear for each of the characters. Sounds like a luxury, but it’s actually a requirement if you want the dress to hang properly. Our model for said corset, is Ms. MacLuggage who plays Gwendolen. Kate is from Connecticut, where both her parents were journalists. She holds an MFA from NYU.
Nikki Coble plays Cecily Cardew, Jack’s extremely wealthy young ward. Nicki is originally from Boston (an accent which she can reproduce upon request), studied at Syracuse University and appeared in a production of Private Lives at Seattle Rep last season.
Jill Tanner plays Lady Bracknell. Originally from Bath England, Jill has been working in the States since the late 1960’s. I had the pleasure of seeing her as Mrs. Alving in a production of Ibsen’s Ghosts a few years back at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. Most recently, she stood by for Elizabeth Ashley in the Broadway production of Dividing the Estate.
Todd Van Noris (Sometimes a Great Notion and Christmas Carol, as well as most recently The Seafarer at A.R.T.) plays Lane (Algy’s butler), and Merriman (Jack’s manservant). Todd is a company member at Artist’s Rep – and we appreciate them loaning him to us. I believe Todd is an NYU grad as well. He admitted today that he was considering a career in arts management, when Joanne Johnson cast him as the lead in Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
Tim True (The Pillowman, A Christmas Carol, Cat on A Hot Tin Roof, King Lear as well as most recently Dead Funny at Third Rail Rep) plays the Rev. Chasuble. Tim and Jill actually worked together at Alabama Shakespeare Festival (where Tim got his MFA).
Barbara Casement has the delicious task of creating the period hats for the show. Yes, she makes them from scratch. Who knew a little comedy could be so complicated?
“In matters of grave importance, style not sincerity is the vital thing.” (Oscar Wilde, Act III of The Importance of Being Earnest)
more posts about Being Earnest || Get the Details about the Show || Buy Tickets
Loading ...